Premier Alison Redford pledged at least $1-billion in provincial funding Monday for recovery and relief from flooding that has swept through Calgary and southern Alberta but warned that rebuilding could take a decade.

Following an emergency meeting of the provincial Treasury Board, Redford told reporters the government would earmark $1-billion now as a first phase — with more dollars certain to follow.

She said the government “will do everything that it takes to ensure that people can rebuild their homes and rebuild their lives and rebuild their communities.”

“I don’t want to scare people but I want you to know that when we talk about what’s going to happen, we’re taking about a 10-year plan,” said Redford in a news conference overlooking the fast-flowing Bow River.

“And we’re committed to making sure that we take that time to do it right.”

Yet while Redford said the full amount of damage is not yet known, the government was committed to providing immediate relief to suffering Albertans

For Albertans displaced from their homes, the government will provide pre-loaded debit cards to help with immediate housing needs and day-to-day purchases. Those who qualify will receive $1,250 per adult and $500 per child and the government hopes to have those distributed by mid-week.

The entire town of High River remains evacuated indefinitely while pockets of residents in various communities — including Calgary — are also unable to return home.

For people with damaged homes, the government wants the flow of money for reconstruction to start “within 10 days to two weeks,” she said.

The flooding means a remarkable fiscal challenge for a government that has run six straight deficits. Redford said the government will not be able to keep to its plan to balance the budget next year because of the disaster.

But opposition parties — while raising concerns about the Progressive Conservative government’s financial and flooding planning ahead of the disaster — weren’t quibbling about its response on Monday.

“This is imperative we get families money right away ... so this is definitely welcome news,” said Wildrose MLA Rob Anderson.

“It sounds like a lot of money — $1 billion — and it is. But it has to be spent. This is the definition of an emergency. Even though it’s going to be tough to find the funds, this is where debt is good.”

NDP Leader Brian Mason praised the government for the debit cards and for pledging to get money quickly to those who need it.

Mason worries the Tory government will use the flood as an excuse for mismanagement but said the money has to be spent.

“When there’s destruction and suffering on this scale, that’s what the priority is. Again, it’s another issue we can sort out afterwards,” he said.

“But we certainly are not going to let them just get away with, ‘oh we have this huge flood thing and that’s why we didn’t balance the budget, that’s why we’re cutting programs in health care and education and social services.’”

Early estimates in an analyst’s note from BMO Capital Markets pegged total speculated losses from the Alberta floods in the $3-billion to $5-billion range.

However, the estimates were called “very preliminary” and when the Herald spoke with the analyst who penned the note, he cautioned those estimates were based entirely on a recent newspaper report that suggested the 2013 flood losses would be 10 times worse than those incurred during the 2005 flood.

Redford also announced that Andre Courbould, who had been assistant deputy minister of transportation, will lead the government’s integrated task force in dealing with the crisis.

Courbould had been a brigadier-general in the Canadian Armed Forces who led Canadian and American units in Afghanistan, said the premier.

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Redford pledges $1 billion in flood relief; rebuild could last a decade (video)

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